This is a repeat, but may interest newcomers:Pen and Feather are varieties of the same word, the root being the Sanskrit pat, to fly. (We have theSanskrit pattra, a wing or instrument for flying; Latin, petna or, penna, pen; Greek, pteron; Teutonic,phathra; Anglo-Saxon, fether; our “feather.”) Analogous examples are TEAR and LARME, NAG and EQUUS, WIG and PERUKE, HEART and COEUR,etc.

From Brewer:Prevarication The Latin word varico is to straddle, and prævanicor to go zigzag or crooked. The verb,says Pliny, was first applied to men who ploughed crooked ridges, and afterwards to men who gavecrooked answers in the law courts, or deviated from the straight line of truth.

Not the way I learned it. From Brewer:Prodigal Festus says the Romans called victims wholly consumed by fire prodigæ hostiæ (victimsprodigalised), and adds that those who waste their substance are therefore called prodigals. This derivationcan hardly be considered correct. Prodigal is pro-ago or prod-igo (to drive forth), and persons who hadspent all their patrimony were “driven forth” to be sold as slaves to their creditors.

Another surprise:qualm n.5ME qualme < OE cwealm, death, disaster (akin to Ger qual, pain, Swed kvalm, nausea) < base of cwellan, to kill (see QUELL): all extant senses show melioration of the orig. meaning6 1 a sudden, brief feeling of sickness, faintness, or nausea 2 a sudden feeling of uneasiness or doubt; misgiving 3 a twinge of conscience; scrupleSYN.—qualm implies a painful feeling of uneasiness arising from a consciousness that one is or may be acting wrongly [he had qualms about having cheated on the test]; scruple implies doubt or hesitation arising from difficulty in deciding what is right, proper, just, etc. [to break a promise without scruple]; compunction implies a twinge of conscience for wrongdoing, now often for a slight offense [to have no compunctions about telling a white lie]; misgiving implies a disturbed state of mind resulting from a loss of confidence as to whether one is doing what is right [misgivings of conscience]

Quarry Prey. This is a term in falconry. When a hawk struck the object of pursuit and clung to it, she was said to “bind;” butwhen she flew off with it, she was said to “carry.” The “carry” or “quarry,” therefore, means the prey carried off by the hawk.It is an error to derive this word from the Latin quaero (to seek).

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